Renegade Letters
by Ultrablockstar
Summary: Join Raiku Taiga, 3 months after Brevon's defeat, as he goes through a life changing journey across Avalice in search of a mysterious dragon girl's family. (Original Characters belong to their respective owners)
1. Backstory

**Introducing a short 16 chapter spin-off to my main Freedom Planet FanFic series.**

 **As always Beta Chapters are available in the Freedom Planet Official Forums.**

* * *

 **-Prologue-**

Dear Publisher,

Have you ever wished that your life would remain normal, ordinary or average. That you just want to settle down after years a chaos? Unfortunately for me, that isn't the case, turns out no matter how much I try to maintain an ordinary life, my past comes back to haunt me; either that or something strange or unexpected happens to me.

My name is Raiku Taiga, I'm a seventeen year old tiger who currently live only a few miles off of the Water City of Shuigang, in a small cottage. I work as a construction worker for the infamous island city with fairly low pay, but enough for me to survive. My hobbies consists of computer engineering, drawing landscapes, exercise and cardio, and staring into the endless sub-arctic sea. I ordinarily dislike writing, I'm more of an artist than a writer, I'm more intuned with numbers than letter; the only form of writing I can tolerate to participate in, would be the letters I would write to my friends and/or family, it's because of this that I decided to tell this anecdote with the letters I wrote around this life changing experience.

Sounds like a pretty normal life don't it, then allow me to provide some backstory. After the events six months ago, nothing will be the same again: Prince Dail became the new ruler of Shuigang, however after his coronation he began looking for his father's assailant, going as far as to even prosecute innocent people and aggressively interrogate anyone who seemed suspicious. In response to this behavior, a rebellion was formed to stop Dail's tyranny, but we were greatly out matched, through some unorthodox means he had obtained powerful and advanced robot soldiers. I proved useful to the rebellion because of who I am, who I was, I had to be honest with them; in such dire situations they didn't care.

I used to be a Red Scarves Veteran, I was one of the best and everyone among the guild of thieves and assassins had expected me to become a Senior prior to my departure, in fact I would've been the youngest Senior in scarves history, however as I've gotten older I realized that this wasn't the life for me. I'm truly grateful for the excitement such a life provided but I wanted to settle down, ambition had blinded me and left me exhausted. Though one thing I do miss is that I had friends among the scarves, I don't know how the scarves felt about me leaving and I'm sure they wouldn't just give me special treatment. You're likely comparing me to Sash Lilac and Carol Tea who also abandoned the scarves, I will admit that they had partially inspired me to leave the scarves, but it remained my own decision and unlike them who seemed to have taken their newfound fame lightly and accepted it, I however wanted to maintain peace and solitude.

With my combat experience I helped the rebellion fight off the army of machines, but brute force wasn't enough, we needed strategy, sadly these people lacked it. They didn't stop to think or consider the consequences, the families that will miss them, their loved ones, they were too damn patriotic for their own good and wanted to become martyrs. If anything they likely just disregarded my ideas solely because of my history. One day however I made the most unlikely of friends, a man about the same age as myself came to Shuigang, he was obviously ignorant of the events that had recently transpired at the time and found himself in the most undesirable of situations, however the rebels managed to save him and inform him of the situation, he claimed to have known the reason behind Prince Dail's strange behavior and that he had some sort of "super hearing", obviously everyone including myself was skeptical of this claim… that was until he proved that he really did have super hearing. Another useful tool for these patriotic fools, I thought to myself.

I was pleasantly surprised when this man, in contrary to the rebellion, actually had similar ideals to myself and that he himself considered these men and women foolish, however he openly provided any information he could, including the robot soldiers' weaknesses, posts, and patrol areas including the identity of the man behind these atrocities, Arktivus Brevon. Despite providing such information, the man advised against fighting Brevon directly however his advice was in vain, I agreed. Why I jumped into the frontlines was beyond even my own understanding, I suppose patriotism finally got to me. As the man simply leaves the city in disappointment, likely hearing the horrors that I've seen first hand, my senses final came back to me at that point. I knew these fools would get themselves killed, but I never imagined they would die the way they did, so horrific that I don't think I can stomach describing such scenes.

After witnessing my comrades fall by Brevons monstrous hands, I had no choice but to retreat so I decided to returned home to Shang Mu where my twin sister lived. The last I've heard from her was when she helped me move to Shuigang after leaving the Red Scarves, she always had my back, even when I told her I would be joining the scarves she agreed to keep it a secret, we were only twelve years old. Himika was a kind soul and although she wasn't as robust or aggressive as I am, she was still intelligent and flexible, I would never wish harm on her and because of that I hadn't talked with her at all for years during my time as a scarf, I was no fool, I knew what the scarves really were and I knew what they were capable of. A week after Brevon's defeat I returned to Shuigang and said my goodbyes, but now I know that I can speak with my sister again.

A month after the following events I came in contact with the man who aided the rebellion at Shuigang, his name was Helms, apparently after the battle at the snowfields he became a historian of sorts. To my surprise we got along pretty well when he came to visit my cottage, and he was willing to share his findings, I will admit they were impressive. I don't quite know why he was so friendly or accepting to me, he was fully aware of my past, which that alone drives people away and that's not including my cynical and seclusive behavior, though I have seen worse than me. Helms had similar ideals to my own, we both seemed to had a similar sense of cynicism and logic, however he was slightly more optimistic than I was.

Now that you know about my backstory and _most_ of the significant characters to the following story I'm about to share with you, it's time to introduce you to the most important character, yes, even more so than myself… and I'm suppose to be the protagonist… though her introduction comes later, as it will be too complicated to explain that encounter with a mere paragraph…


	2. Act 1 - The Mysterious Girl

**-1-**

 **Letter I : December 10th**

Dear Himika,

I'm writing this letter to assure you that everything is going well. These past few months have been very eventful, after returning to my cottage I got a new job as a construction worker for Shuigang, despite being a low paying and undesirable job it actually proved to be quite helpful, especially after the momentary battles between the three kingdoms. I'm simply glad I can help however I can, and ironically is proving more fruitful than I expected. I've managed to repair any damage that was done to my house, restocked on groceries and supplies, as well as upgraded a couple of utilities.

As a construction worker, I'm fairly separate from my fellow workers, mainly because I'm usually very focused on the job at hand and can be very pragmatic. My salary is reasonable, however far from desired, a mere 20 crystals a week is very minimal, but you know it could be worse… it could be minimal wage (Which minimal wage for Shuigang have decreased post war, dropping from 6 crystals to 2 crystals). That's not including the 20 crystals you provide me every months, which I am very grateful for. As a former citizen of Shang Mu, they still provide me with welfare thanks to recent laws passed to compensate for the past energy crisis, that's another 50 gems a months which makes a total of 150 gems a month.

However I'm not writing this for small talk, instead I want to talk to you in person. During my usual hunting sessions I came across something… interesting… I can't really explain it to you specifically in this letter instead I wish to show you. If this proves to be more important than myself then I'll have no choice but to ask for assistance. Please arrive at Shuigang as soon as you possibly can.

 **Letter II : December 13th**

Dear Himika,

Thank you for arriving to my cottage as fast as you could, I considered the advice you gave me about contacting _her_ about the situation, however there's a minor problem. I'm not quite sure how I'll be able to contact her, I have absolutely no clue where on Avalice she lives, so it's not like I can just write a proper address, honestly I don't think anyone knows where she lives. Even with her newfound fame, she's still prefer to remain hidden, though I can never blame her for that.

I have accepted this new responsibility but this could be beyond my standards, even though it's temporary. There's already several problems I've encountered with this new development and I fear I lack the supplies to even sustain Lily.

Hopefully when I finally get in contact with her, she will provide me the help I need to assure Lily's safety and health. I'm simply not in the right state, to care for her and I know you're far too busy.

Meanwhile I have thought of a solution. A month after Shuigang's defeat, I met a friend, it's so happens that he used to live near Sash and so I have decided to ask for his assistance. I will write back to you when everything is said and done.

 **Letter III : December 13th**

Dear Helms,

I've heard you were coming to visit Shuigang on official business and although I dislike asking such favors, as I personally consider it rude and offensive, I have to make an exception. Please bare with me as I ask you to make a short detour to my cottage, there I will explain everything to you. Before I take a moment of your time, I must ask you something very important, even though it may seem strange to ask you of this, however I'm aware that you used to be neighbors with Sash Lilac.

Not only do i want to inform you of the events that had transpired, but also need you to sort of provide Sash with the same information I'm willing to share to you, the reason being is that I need both of your help.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

 **Letter IV : December 15th**

Dear Lilac,

Firstly, I just want to say that it been close to three years since we've had any contact with each other (Admittedly I was going to refer to her as Sash, until I was told she prefer to be called Lilac now), but I'm contacting you now because I'm in need of your help. I'm not particularly sure what you're doing now, especially after saving Avalice. However please bear with me as I explain what happened to me last week in the same detail I told both my sister and Helms, also… don't tell Carol… any of this…

So I had recently came from work as a construction worker as I helped repair a selection of damaged buildings after the war against Brevon and King Dail. although the buildings weren't too badly damaged, or at least the majority; some had reasonable amount of damage, besides it seemed those buildings appeared to have had extensive water damage to begin with, no wonder these buildings collapsed so easily. It was backbreaking work and when the job was done it was already eight o'clock in the evening and thankfully tomorrow was a well deserved vacation for us hard working people.

I decided to spend my break from work doing what I usually do in my free time, which included hunting. During my hunting session I noticed a lack of wildlife throughout the surrounding wilderness. Although the Shuigang taiga never been a very lively place to begin with, this was more quiet than usual. I spent about a half hour scouting as much of the forest as I possibly can, afterwards I took a quick snack until I heard a loud metallic sound in the distance. I followed the sounds I heard and it led me to a giant turret-like machine, it seemed like a larger version of those smaller turrets which guarded Shuigang when it was under Brevon's influence, I believe I remember Helms saying how he called them turretus, except this one was massive and obviously was designed for infiltration. What really caught my attention was the young girl being attacked by the machine, which I decided to call a prime turretus (I like naming things, even though I'm usually very bad.)

The girls was no older than six years old and she had mauve skin, white hair with mauve horns, blue eyes, sharp claws, a short tail but lacked tendrils. Her attire was definitely abnormal for any girl I've seen, she wore a jet black close-fit tank top and capris with a golden sash wrapped around her waist, the sash she wore had strange white markings on it and was bare foot. She looked partially terrified, yet she tried to hold a her ground, I was impressed none the less but I knew she would get herself killed eventually. I had to intervene and therefore I lunged on top of the mechanoid and began attacking it with my dual swords. That thing had _strong_ armor, my attacks hardly phased it, either way I wasn't worried. I remembered what Helms mentioned about these robots regarding how certain parts of it's armor was weaker than others, likely so that they could implant those mutants into these monstrous machines with ease or perform maintenance. As the machine fires at me the girl simply observes, I couldn't tell if it was because I was a random stranger who came to her aid or that she might have been prideful and felt offended that anyone came to aid her, I got closer as the turret slowly backs away, trying to make distance between us. What caught me off guard was how it changed it's projectiles from simple balls of compressed energy to a powerful helix beam, the force of that beam was powerful enough to recoil both me and it away from each other, it attacked again but I was ready, well… okay, I was ready the _third_ time, but that's besides the point, after it attacked again I took advantage of it's cooldown and attacked at what I perceived to have been the designated weak spot, which stunned the machine and gave me the opportunity to destroy one of its three legs and ran off with the girl (I might have exaggerated in this part.)

This girl wasn't exactly very happy at first when I suddenly grabbed her and ran away from that damned machine, in fact she actually clawed through my face.

"What the hell was that about!" She scolded, her vulgar language caught me off guard, to the point I immediately let go of her and gave her quizzed stare, "Seriously though, what are you doing grabbing little girls! Also I had everything under control!"

I simply scoffed at her, "First of all, you're like six, you shouldn't be speaking the way you are and how do you even know about that kind of stuff anyways. Second of all, I just saved your life, if anything you should be grateful!"

My harsh tone intimidated the young girl into submission, noticing the effect of my bravado, I simply sighed and gave a warmer expression. The little dragon became more open in response, she seemed to have gotten comfortable with my company already, "I'm sorry, y-your right." I would be lying if I said I wasn't impressed with her abnormally mature behavior, however she seemed awkward around me, I could've only assumed that she had poor social skills, though she was only six anyways.

"So, what is girl like you doing here? Where's your family? What's even your name?" I simply asked.

"I… I don't know… " She calmly responds, "I don't even know my name honestly."

"Surely you have a name, is there anything I can call you?", I took a quick glance at her again, she had a somewhat slender build and seemed slightly taller for her young age, that combined with her white hair reminded me of the garden lilies my family had back at Shang Mu, so I called her just that, "Lily"

"Lily? I kinda like that name."

"I suppose you can stay with me, but tomorrow we have to find your parents." I mused, Lily agreed and followed me back home. She brought with her a small pouch, I didn't bother to look inside because I felt it wasn't important and I assumed it was personal.

Apparently, providing for a dragon girl could be a real pain, unlike an avalician girl, she had a far larger appetite and required less sleep, which might be the reason as to why she eats so much food to begin with. Thankfully it also seems dragons have stronger immune systems, so I didn't have to worry about her getting sick, days of trying to look for her parents proved fruitless and I began to realize that I simply lack the necessities to provide for a growing dragon such as Lily. Her combined maturity and snark can be annoying and her undying curiosity legitimately worries me, she a quick one, to be expected, but she's also sneaky.

Apart from those negatives, her maturity does enable her to perform some life functions herself, like serving herself simple meals. Although we usually don't see eye to eye, she does seem interested on my combat skills and, as of recently, enjoys hunting with me. However like I told both Himika and Helms, I simply can't keep this up forever, I only ask if you can perhaps help me find her parents or at least provide a more suitable family for her.

I simply ask for your assistance,

P.S: Did I also mention not to bring Carol?


	3. Act 2 - The Hero's Visit

**-2-**

 **Letter Ia : December 19th**

Dear Himika,

You wouldn't believe how awkward it was with Sash Lilac near, we decided to meet at a local cafe where most of my co-workers would go to get a quick bite to eat before resuming work. Thank the ancients that yesterday was a 'break day' for me and my co-worker. Could you imagine? The girl or… erm guy in your case, who you've had a crush on for three years, seeing you in a raggedy work clothes with several different workers, wearing the same dirty clothes are found scattered throughout the building. Granted my co-workers are actually nice people, however I choose to be slightly isolated, mainly to avoid any pointless or uncomfortable questions about the Red Scarves. Unlike you, I dislike controversy… _a lot_.

Thankfully that wasn't the case, I dressed fairly casually, as in all I wore was a jacket, t-shirt, pants with snow boots.

When I saw Lilac, she wore her usual attire, however her boots were more designed for snowy terrain and she had a violet light jacket. Honestly last time I checked, water dragons were endothermic, so when I saw her with such light clothing in a cold climate such as this I appeared worried and anxious for her. I honestly didn't want her to freeze on account of my issues. With that said, Lilac certainly noticed my expression, I had no clue how to respond.

"Well, long time no see. So…" She opens, either she felt as uncomfortable or just wanted to get this over with as her body slowly reach dangerously low temperatures; I betted on the latter, alright.

"Eh… yeah… it's been a while." This was my pathetic response.

"Hey you're alright, you don't look to good. You know I wasn't expecting Helms to suddenly appear in my front door, we chat a bit and he already told me about the whole situation before I even read that letter, so… you want to go to your house now or would you get something to eat first?"

"Let's get something to eat, I haven't eaten anything today yet and I need to get Lily breakfast."

After that short exchange we bought some food from the cafe, me and Lilac decided to have coffee while we bought Lily hot coco, finally we got a large box of donuts for all three of us.

At my cottage me and Lilac discussed what we've been up to, we both found it amusing how both of us, former Red Scarves, played a part on Avalice's salvation(Just as note, I technically have fought Brevon before escaping Shuigang during the rebellion, however I only barely survived). Of course, Lilac, had done so much more than me, and yet despite my modesty and denial, she seemed to have understood my reasoning for leaving the scarves and aiding the rebellion. She actually called me out for scoffing at all the people who sacrificed themselves for their kingdom, she didn't like my tangent on how I considered them fools and how they should've retreated instead of throwing their lives away, yet she remained oddly sympathetic towards me. I could only assume she related to those rebels who died in vain however it was obvious that she agreed with me despite her feelings. I don't know how, but I felt as though she was a different from the girl I met about four years ago, unlike said girl, she was sympathetic, caring, strong willed and understanding.

She've definitely grown since I've last saw her.

 **Letter Ib : December 19th**

Lily was simply sitting in front of the television, her tastes in shows were… peculiar… for six year old girl she had fairly mature taste for her age; I think I've already stressed this in my previous letter, either way no matter how much I try to change it to an appropriate channel for her age group, she somehow manages to change the channel, what's worse is that this happened once _in front_ of Lilac. Honestly, a seventeen year old and a six year old arguing over the remote, the irony is that the older person wants something kid friendly, meanwhile the younger wants something more mature. Also when Lily gets annoyed or provoked she would normally claw my face as though she was some kind of godforsaken cat, granted her claws are _sharp_ , though unlike cat claws, dragon claws are more broader, rough and technically not nails, _they were far worse than nails and if you're as unfortunate as me to have been attacked by such things, they will burn like the flames of hell_ , thankfully Lilac intervened before I had to feel such excruciating pain again, her attacks would literally land me in the emergency room if it wasn't for my skills as a fighter, but she was still faster and would always get a cheap shot on me, however in the end I would overpower her.

"Hey, watch how you use those!" Lilac calls out to Lily as she grabs on to the little girl's arm.

"Well he's pain in the ass." Lily comments, I certainly didn't appreciate the insult, so obviously I would object in response, however I used her use of vocabulary as an excuse to scald her, mainly because I didn't want to look like a whiny boy in front of someone else.

"That's no reason to claw his face apart! Though for a little girl, your not that bad of a fighter, huh?"

"Eh…" It amused me how flattered Lily was, she obviously never felt flattery before.

"Well the last time I checked, Raiku used to be a high ranking Red Scarves veteran, so I don't think he would be an easy opponent."

"Alright, anyways…" I started before Lilac interrupted.

"Relax, I know you want to find a home for her." Lilac mentions. Lily was surprised to hear this, however she didn't seem very happy. I would assume she thought that meant she was going to end up in some kind of orphanage, which in retrospect would've been a better decision, however that wasn't the case…

"No… I want to find _her_ home." I assured, even though I wasn't certain I'd ever find where she came from, though I suppose it's worth a try. Both dragon girls just look at me, Lilac in particular knew that what I was saying was just to calm Lily, she knew very well that I couldn't promise her such a thing and her uncertainty showed.

Lilac however played along, "Yeah, I'm sure we'll find your family…", she didn't waste any time taking me to a private room and what she said, made me felt both uneasy and guilty. "You can't keep a promise like that… and you know it…"

"What else can I say, I honestly don't want her to be in some orphanage, trust me I've known people who have went through that kind of torture… no one deserves it."

"I just want to let you know it's better than being abandoned without any help, and I have two friends who had to live with that, and one of them can't even recall who her parents were."

"Your talking about…"

"Of course I'm talking about Carol and Milla."

I could not make a response, let alone a counter argument, she had a point, however she digressed, it seemed reluctant given the sigh she made prior to her next statement.

"Though you're right to find her real home, It's a long shot but I'm sure you can help her find her family."

"What's with the sudden agreement?" I questioned.

"I suppose it's because I can relate to her."

"Where you that much of a pain in the ass when you were her age?"

"Very funny, but what I mean is that I know how it's like to be a dragon in the three kingdoms. Yeah, we have flashy abilities, but it's not as easy or amazing as it sounds."

"You know, I never thought about it like that… like… I mean… I never thought of dragons like-"

"Hey, there's no need to finish that sentence, funny part is that as a little girl I thought of my ancestors as gods… how wrong was I, but in a good way."

"Well then, what do you recommend I do then?"

"Maybe you should go to Shang Mu and do a bit of research, also the winter festival is starting soon, so you matters well give the girl a time of her life, don't worry I'll help you out with all of that."

"P-pardon?!"

"What? I was going to say I'm just gonna spend the night here and we leave first thing this morning to Shang Mu, what's wrong with that?"

"I-I… I… I mean… s-sure?" Yes, you can scald me for being a babbling idiot, not exactly a very good response, I know. In my defense she was younger and you already know about my feelings towards her, my main concern was the crap the nosey towns people were going to insinuate. Thankfully my stupidity was heard by deaf ears at that point, she had already went back to the living room to spend some time with Lily.

Well, I guess I should send a letter to Helm about my trip to Shang Mu, ah and I suppose I'll pay you a visit, I can only hope for my sanity that my parents won't be there.

 **Letter II : December 19 [** _Edited by Etherdrone_ **]**

 _Dear Raiku,_

 _I'm here to inform you about the events that followed after receiving your letter. Conveniently enough, you sent the letter at the best possible time, as I had just finished an important expedition for my research… or perhaps calling it important may be an over exaggeration? Whatever._

 _I'll admit, I'm intrigued as to how you plan to approach this recent development. Though I personally am rather interested in who Lily is, I think it's best if I don't pry on your personal life. But still, as my feelings as a friend are concerned, I only wish you the best of luck and hopefully you'll make the right decision with Lily. My only worry is how you would care for her; from my research on the dragon race, they're quite a handful to raise. Though what the hell do I know? I'm just as under qualified as you are!_

 _My real reason for sending this letter, though, is regarding my encounter with Sash Lilac, Carol Tea and Milla Basset. Firstly, I will admit that your request was… bizarre to say the least. Though your motives were logical in theory, I still found myself questioning them for a while, you know how this song and dance goes._

 _But don't you worry. I get it._

 _When I arrived at Lilac's treehouse, it was no surprise that she hadn't expected me. Frankly, it was the first time I even set foot in her house despite being former neighbors. It was nice, cozy and quite big for a mere treehouse, I could only assume she had some skills at decorating and designing, because her living room was so open that I was convinced that was all there was for a while. So as I informed Lilac about your situation with Lily and how you found her, she admitted that she haven't seen you in... about three to four years ago, and that she wasn't quite sure if she would trust you or not. You know, being a Red Scarf member and all. But this was before I explained your departure from the scarves and what you did for the Shuigang rebellion despite its failure. She was quite delightfully shocked by this and then apologized about her rants; I could only assume that whatever happened with her and the Red Scarves certainly left a lasting impression... though her tone of voice suggested she wasn't sure how to feel._

 _Carol and Milla were eavesdropping on our conversation, but I remained quiet about it because of the sheer curiosity about what Lilac was telling me and I didn't want any disturbances. Also, knowing Carol, she'd cause a scene if I called her out. And no, it's not because I wrote a letter to Lilac prior to those events about how Carol was sneaking some crackers in the middle of the night to eat them in the woods, okay?_

 _This is just about as relevant to the topic at hand as the food I ate yesterday, which is, for the record, not relevant at all. But you get the point, I hope._

 _Anyways, what intrigued me the most is that Lilac was unsure about the favor you asked. She actually argued that I would be a better option on helping you with this matter. I obviously questioned this and she responded with an explanation about her insecurities with how she was raised and that she had close to no interactions with another dragon at all… But she did know basic information about the race, like the five main types of dragons that exists and strangely the common stereotypes behind her own type… which, by the way, was a contradiction to her claim… I wonder if she noticed or not. Whatever, I eventually convinced her otherwise and when she finished reading the letter, she found it quite amusing._

 _Also, as a fair warning, she told me she plans to stay with you for a while and planned a trip to Shang Mu with you and Lily, so don't be surprised when she tells you about it. As for Carol and Milla, I decided to confront them. Milla clearly was clueless about the situation, but when it all kind of subsided, Carol pulled me aside to tell me some rather interesting info about your, uh… personal interests regarding our mutual acquaintance, wink wink, nudge nudge!_

 _Hehehehe!_

 _Don't worry, Raiku! As a friend, I'll keep those things close to my heart, and I'm guessing your sister knows this as well… Thus, I can only wish you luck after learning that! Also, as a friendly heads up? She's head over heels for sushi. Strike while the iron is hot, brother!_

 _Also, don't you worry about Carol or Milla. I was honestly looking for help, too, so I will likely take them with me for my next expedition – nothing that will take long at all. I did inform Lilac about this as well, and both girls seemed excited… I hope they won't be nearly as much trouble to me as Lily is to you._

 _Sincerely, Helms Willow_


End file.
